This invention relates generally to fishing products and more particularly to sinkers designed to move along a body of water.
Known related art includes U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,605,576 of Young, Jr. on 8/5/52; 2,502,875 of Mortensen on 4/4/1950; 2,225,805 of Stevermer on 12/24/1940; 1,284,508 of Watson on 11/12/1918; 883,048 of Pflueger on 3/24/1908; and 769,356 of Reis on 9/6/1904.
A common deficiency of known sinkers is their inherent inability to move through water at a natural rate producing a natural bait action.
One group of known sinkers adopt a construction composed solely of lead utilizing the high specific gravity (11.35) of this material (Pb) to obtain a rapid submersion rate. Such construction inherently drags along the bottom, plowing, wedging and snagging thereby preventing a natural bait presentation and causing a high incidence of fishing gear loss. This construction is also objectionable because it flattens upon impact (highly malleable) as well as being prone to flaking and corrosion. It will be appreciated that these qualities cause dissipation of toxic lead ions; but, also cause sharp edges which exacerbate these problems by nicking and tangling fishing lines.
A second group of known sinkers have sought to avoid some of the deficiencies of an all lead (Pb) construction by adopting a composite construction having an elastomeric body into which a lead mass is inserted to give the resultant sinker a specific gravity ranging from about 5.00 to about 9.00. The uneven mass distribution of such sinkers, however, forces the adoption of non-spherical shapes in order to maintain desired orientation in the water, and, renders the device inherently incapable of stabilized buoyancy.